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FIGHTING ELK GOOD BOXER The popular idea of fighting deer pictures them with locked horns Elk however fight erect on their hind legs their heads thrown back In this position they stab viciously at each other with their sharp front hoofs and often inflict serious wounds It is a human way of fighting These sparring contests often develop high skill skillMr Mr S N Leek who lives just south of the Yel ¬ lowstone National Park boundary and in sight of the lordly Teton Mountains which some day will be included in the National Park has spent many years among the great herds of elk which swarm back and forth between the Jackson Hole country and the safe refuge of the park wilderness His adventures as a photographer are many and inter ¬ esting estingHere Here is an extract from a rncent letter letterTo To get the photograph of fighting elk was both interesting and tiresome After they were fed hay I would stop the sleigh in as good a position as possible Then I would set up the camera within a few feet of the sleigh draw the dark slide set the shutter and bulb in hand await what might happen happenThe The elk before they rear up usually hold their heads high in the air and make a peculiar clicking snapping noise with their mouth which at the time is held partly open so that their tusks will show On hearing this noise the camera is instantly swung in that direction directionSLUGGING SLUGGING BLOWS WITH FORE FEET FEETIf If the brewing storm proven to b more than a quarrel the two animals rear in the air together and slug at each other with their fore feet Th object of each seems to be to strike he other on the lower jaw For thin reason each holds its head us far from tho others fon feet as possible possibleBlows Blows are landed that sound as if struck with sledKO hammers Each bout is only a few seconds duration the vanquished lights on his fore feet running to escape the cruel thrust that is sure to be delivered with lightning quickness quicknessSometimes Sometimes tho wait is long before each scrap then it most usually ends in a clicking noise The fight is nearly always in a dense bunch of elk whore no picture worth while can be secured Hours of constant watching often results in no ex ¬ posure or several exposures may be made during the time without a single picture pictureWhile While it is aggravating to spend days without results nevertheless it gives a splendid chance to study the animals Elk cows fight the same as the bulls and cows will fight bulls and often whip them Once I saw a cow knock a bull over back ¬ wards completely out one of her hard fore feet reached his lower jaw Another time I saw a horn knocked off it went whirling ten feet in the air while the bull that lost it went away holding iiis head as some people do when they have a tooth pulled
